On December 3, 1984, more than 27 tons of poisonous MIC gas leaked from a storage tank at a Union Carbide pesticide factory in
Bhopal, India. It was the world’s biggest industrial disaster, killing in total more than 20,000 people. After twenty years people continue
to die and suffer.
Those lucky enough to survive continue to suffer long-term illnesses, including lung disease such as tuberculosis. Exposure to the
gas also wrecked survivors’ immune systems making them vulnerable to cancer, and chronic fever. Affected women report serious
gynaecological problems, including premature menopause. Survivors’ children suffer delayed physical growth and other developmental
milestones, as published in the Journal of American Medical Associations in October 2003.
To this day, no effort has been made to clean up the site of the factory. The leakage of toxic chemicals from waste buried during the
factory’s operation have seeped into the ground contaminating the local water supply affecting the health of thousands of people living
nearby the derelict factory. But there has been no comprehensive or scientific analysis and assessment of the toxic waste nor its
impact.
Greenpeace estimates that 150,000 people are still severely affected by the tragedy, and that ten to fifteen people still die every
month. Thousands of families continue to struggle on or below the poverty line because their wage earners can no longer work due to
illnesses caused by exposure to the gas.
Some local NGOs are working to help survivors. The Sambhavna Trust Clinic offers valuable support for the communities affected by
the disaster by providing free healthcare to as many as a hundred people a day. The treatment includes a blend of Western and
traditional Indian medicine. Sambhavna also conducts medical research, organizes health committees in the local communities, and
campaigns for justice for the survivors.
Whilst Dow maintains that it has no liability as Union Carbide, having settled issue with the Indian Government in 1989, the legal
struggle by survivors and solidarity organisations dissatisfied with the Indian Government’s handling of the matter continues.